4 Students Injured in Explosion at Chicago School

Northside College Prep temporarily evacuated after incident

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Chicago students were temporarily evacuated Wednesday morning after a fire during a cooking class at Northside College Prep High School, police said.

Four teens were injured in the incident, which happened at about 10:30 a.m. at the school on the 5500 block of North Kedzie, Police News Affairs said. The students were taken to area hospitals, one in serious-to-critical condition, two in fair condition and one in good condition, fire officials said.

One student suffered facial burns, according to reports.

Police initially said some sort of explosion occurred at the lab.

"During a routine cooking instruction, there was an incident with a single-burner stove that resulted in a small fire," Chicago Public Schools spokesman Joel Hood said in a statement."The school responded immediately. All students were evacuated from school for a short time until it was determined that they could return safely. An investigation is underway."

CPS said students were immediately evacuated from the lab, and the fire was isolated and extinguished. Parents were notified via robo-calls and a letter sent home with students.

It's not clear what caused the incident, but a hazmat crew was called to the scene along with several fire trucks and an ambulance.

The students were heating hot chocolate on gas burners in the lab when a fire started.